Hi Auður and all you wonderful yoga women! I promised to send in my birth story, so here it is, 5 months after my dream birth

My due date was 25 March 2025 (25.03.25), which felt completely written in the stars, as my older boy was born on his due date, 22 January 2022 (22.01.22). Even though my older boy came on his due date, I tried not to get my hopes up about giving birth on my due date, or earlier, since many go over, and I'd heard that waiting for a baby is hard and tiring, so I rather expected to go over.

But on the morning of Tuesday 25 March (my due date) I woke up after strong period-like pains all night, no contractions, more like I was about to start my period, a little ache low in my belly. My husband, Gísli, was supposed to be working out of town, but since I was heavily pregnant he decided to stay home to be on hand if I went into labor, which I was very glad about, because we had a lovely day together where we could relax and rest.

When I went to the bathroom I noticed the mucus plug was coming away, so I decided to call my team at Björkin. Elva answered, and after talking with her I decided to go to yoga at noon and try to relax, as there were still no contractions, only the same ache.

In the yoga class, though, I started getting mild contractions that were easy to breathe through, doing a few simple yoga poses in between sitting on the big ball. After class we had something to eat and watched a bit of TV, and I was still getting mild contractions I had to focus on breathing through. I managed to fall asleep and slept for 2 hours, but when I woke up I realized the contractions had stopped completely and I hadn't felt anything for a few hours. I was very disappointed, as I'd been so sure I was going into labor and was excited to meet our dearest Logi. We went out for a walk, where I walked along the curbs, as Soffía had said could help the baby settle better in the pelvis.

Again I had a few contractions that faded away. I sat on the ball in the evening, took a bath and had a massage, but nothing happened. At 9 pm I called Elva, completely sure the baby was turned the wrong way in the pelvis and that I needed to do exercises to turn him. She simply told me to relax and go to sleep, and was sure I would call her in the morning with everything in full swing. I decided to listen, and what do you know, at 3:30, after one of the best night's sleeps I'd had in a long time, I woke up with strong contractions I really had to focus on to get through. Gísli woke up, but I told him to try to sleep again and rest for what was ahead. Our older boy was having a sleepover at his grandparents', so we could rest undisturbed. But I changed my mind very soon after telling him to rest and asked him to set up the pool in the living room and start filling it. I had called Elva, and we agreed I would call again in 30-40 minutes if I felt it was happening, which I did, as the contractions got very strong very fast. I leaned over the kitchen island while Gísli got everything ready, and while the pool filled I hung around his neck and swayed my hips slowly from side to side. This position saved me in my first birth and did again in this one before I got into the pool. There was something so good about feeling the weightlessness of the bump hanging down, my forehead against Gísli's chest and his hands on my back.

Once I was in the pool, it was the water, the birth comb and Gísli's hands that carried me through the contractions, which had become really strong with only short pauses between them. Towards the end I felt I got no break at all, as our sweet baby seemed to want to swim out front crawl, kicking so hard that it really hurt, and I remember once saying, "I know it's good that he's moving, but can we make him stop?" In my memory, though, this was right at the very end, because shortly after I felt a strong urge to push, and it took only 2-3 pushes to have Logi Hrafn in my arms, just over 4 hours after the contractions really began. Then something broke open in me, and I'm quite sure I cried just as much, maybe more, than he did.

My birth was a complete dream and went better than I had dared hope. Being at home, in my own surroundings, with my own music made me feel so good, and I believe it made a big difference to how well the birth went. Even though I had a short visit to the hospital because of bleeding after the placenta was born, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Elva and Harpa from Björkin were wonderful, and the preparation I had done in yoga paid off many times over.

I'm attaching a few photos, and thank you again for this wonderful course, Auður, and for all the work you put into making it possible for women to come together and find the amazing strength we carry within us.